It is October 27, 2013, and, as regular visitors to Readlarrypowell.com know, I’ve been enduring the discovery, removal and aftermath of a pituitary tumor, an ugly little visitor that was pressing my ocular nerves and threatening my vision and my brain and whatever else it could monkey with.
As dire diseases go, this was the kind of problem to have if you’re going to have a problem. Still, you don’t just bounce back like all you got is an NFL-style concussion. For one thing, you can’t get your helmet back on. For another, an agent and a coach can’t convince you to go back into the game for the sake of the national economy.
There are things you can do and things you can’t do -- can’t lift anything heavier than about 8 pounds. You can’t do a lot of things you do every day -- like bend over and tie your shoelaces. Time heals all wounds, they say. So that’s where we are.
And speaking of time, it will take me time to respond to all the wonderful notes we’ve gotten. Bless all of you.
And, here is a special note of encouragement to some people with whom I have been inadvertently aligned for nine years today -- “The 10-27s” we were called.
We all got the heave-ho from the big paper in Dallas exactly nine years ago today. 10-27-2004. Yep, excused from further participation -- some of us after decades of loyal, efficient, skillful, loving service. What has happened since then? Failed lawsuits, financial challenges and moving on happily but not without memory of the sting to the heart.
The point to contradict with your evidence, my fellow 10-27s, is what F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote: “There are no second acts in American lives.” That was in the notes to his unfinished novel “The Last Tycoon.” And, indeed, in today’s world it appears to be the newspaper tycoons who are having trouble conjuring up a second act.
In my life, I had decades of newspapering and being a father and husband -- that was Act 1. In the past 9 years, I’ve enjoyed an Act 2 that includes writing for Urban Animal magazine, publishing a daily animal website, editing other people’s books, writing short stories and poems and, yes, even some novels.
And, now, after a terrifying encounter with an awful medical problem, I am in Act 3. Marketing and public relations, more writing, sticking to the morality of trying to do right by animals and humans, trying to become a better companion for a woman who is far more of an angel than a clown like me deserves. I’ve got all that. Act 3 is a magnificent blessing, a robust challenge.
Ambition, joy, love, friends, readers and the constant hope that my six lucky numbers will live up to their potential in Lotto Texas.
Act 3 -- I’ve already been more blessed in just two acts than any dozen humans. I just need to live up to the blessings. I write this in honor of the people I love and the people who got their exit papers the same day I did nine years ago.
The irony is we were being shown a door that many would eventually wish they could leave through -- alas, they were trapped by circumstance. Yes, again, a Fitzgerald sentiment: “Let me tell you about the very rich. They are different from you and me.”
So, dear readers and dear 10-27s, enjoy this wonderful day, plan on a great one for tomorrow and be kind to animals -- even the human animals. The dog knows its heart but the human animal has absolutely no problem denying the goodness in its heart. Perhaps that will change some day.
And one more Fitzgerald quote: “Never confuse a single defeat with a final defeat.”
The future is brightest when you can make your own light.
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REMINDER: Readlarrypowell.com anticipates returning to business better-than-as-usual within a handful of days. Please keep checking at www.readlarrypowell.com and remember to be kind to animals, people and, especially, yourselves.
